Detachable blade pocketknife



Aug. 4, 1953 T. R. ARDEN DETACHABLE BLADE POCKET KNIFE Filed March 7,1951 mumlmul.

Patented ug. 4, 1,953

DETACHABLE BLADE POCKETKNIFE Thomas R. Arden, Danbury, Conn., assignorto Bard-Parker Company, Inc., Danbury, Conn., a corporation of New YorkApplicatiqn March 7, 1951, serial No. 214,275

l, This invention relates to pocket knives of the type comprising ahandle and a removable, replaceable blade which is pivoted to the handlefor swinging movements between a closed position in which it 'is housedin and protected by the handle, andan open position in which it eX-tends from the front end of the handle substantially in alinement withthe latter.-

vAccording to the invention there is pivoted to the front end of thehousing a shank by which the blade is carried, and in this connection anobject of the invention is to provide for mounting the blade on saidshank in `a simple, firm and practical manner such that it may readilyand easily be removed and replaced whenever desired. y The blade is ofthe thin, laterally flexible type in order that it may be removably,replaceably mounted on the shank in accordance with the invention, andin this connection another object of theinvention is to provide saidblade aloner 2 Claims. (Cl. 30-156) Figure 2.

Referring to the drawing in detail, A designates generally, the handleof the present knife; B designates, generally, the knife blade, and Cdesignates, generally, a shank which is pivoted to the handle A and uponlwhich the blade B is removably, replaceably mounted.

The handle A is composed of a pair of side plates I0, I and aninterposed leaf spring II against the sides of which said side platesvare suitably secured, as for example, by means of rivets I2. V

The leaf spring II extends contiguously tothe back edges of the sideplates I0, Ill substan- V tially from end to end of the latter andserves to its back edge with a stilfening flange or anges kextendinglaterally from one or both sides of the blade and to mount the bladev sothatwhen it is closed and protectively disposed in the handle saidflange or flanges is or are disposed in partslightly outwardly withrespect to the open edge of the handle for nger nail engagement tofacilitate initial swinging`movement of the blade from its closed towardits open position.

Withthe foregoing and other objects in view, as will become more fullyapparent as the nature` of the invention is better understood, the sameconsists in a pocket knife of the removable, replaceable blade typeembodying the novel features of construction, combination andarrangement of parts as are illustrated by way of eX- ampleA in theaccompanying drawing and as will be hereinafter more fully described andclaimed. In the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters ofreference denote corresponding parts in the different views:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pocket knife constructed in accordancewith the inventio and shown in closed condition.

' Figure 2 is a longitudinal section through the knife as shown inFigure 1.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section through the knife with the blade inits open position relative to the handle.

Figure 4 is an elevation of the knife with the blade in open positionand looking toward the open edge of the handle.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the blade and the shank of the knife inseparated relationship to each other; and

space said side plates apart as well as to serve as a closure at theback edge of the handle for the space between said side plates, whichspace is open at the front edge of the. handle as shown.

Only the rear end portions of the side plates ID, I0 andthe leaf springII are secured together so as to leave the front end portion of saidleaf spring free for backward and forward flexure.

The inner end portion of the shank C is of block-like form and isinterposed between the front end portions of the side plates Il, l! andis pivotally secured to said side plates by a rivet I3 for swingingmovement through an angle of substantially 180 between a closed positionin which it extends substantially longitudinally of the handle A betweenthe side plates il?, I thereof, as illustrated in Figure 2 and an openposition in which it extends substantially longitudinally with respectto said handle forwardly beyond the front end of the latter.

. The front end portion of the leaf spring I I cooperates with` flatfront and rear edges of the block-like inner end portion of the shankv Cto yieldably `hold said shank in its aforesaid closed andopen positions,respectively, and a shoulder I4 is provided on the said inner endportion of said shank to engage the front end of the leaf spring II whensaid shank is in its open position Yto positivelyprevent it fromswinging beyond its said open position.

The shank C is of narrow, elongated form and at one side thereof,adjacent to the block-like inner end portion thereof, is recessed toprovide an inwardly facing shoulder I5 and, inwardly of shoulder, a sidesurface I6 which, as shown in f-Figure 4, is gradually curved laterallyoutward as it extends inwardly from said shoulder.

In the front and rear edges of the shank C and extending from the outerend thereof suit- 3 able distances inwardly therealong are channels l1,l1 which are alined with the outer end portion of the side face i6 ofsaid shank.

The blade B is thin and at least the inner end portion thereof islaterally flexible.` In said blade and extending longitudinally thereofis an elongated slot I8 the inner end portion of which is of a widthcorresponding to the width of the outer end portion of the shank C andthe outer end portion of which is of a width corresponding to thedistance between the bottoms of the channels H, Il. The length of saidslot I8 is approximately equal to the distance between the outer end ofthe shank C and its shoulder l5.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the blade B may readily andeasily be mounted securely and iirrnly on the shank C simply by firstentering the outer end of said shank in the inner end portion of theslot IB and thereafter alining the portions of the blade B at both sidesof the outer end portion of the slot i8 with the channels Il, Il, andthen, as permitted by the nerii bility of the blade, sliding the bladeinwardly relative to said shank until the inner end of the slot I8engages behind the shoulder la. As the blade is slid inwardly relativeto the shank C the blade portions at both sides of the outer end portionof the slot I8 enter the channels ll, ll and thus secure the bladeagainst both lateral move-- ment and movement in its plane relative tosaid shank, while by engagement of the portions of the blade atthe innerand outer ends of the slot 'i8 behind the shoulder l and against theouter end of the shank, respectively, the blade is effectively securedagainst endwise movement relative to 'the shank. Due to the curvature ofthe 'side face i6 of lthe shank C against which the inner end portion ofthe blade B rests when said blade is ap plied to said shank, the saidinner end portion of said blade is maintained under lateral flexure sothat any l'ooseness of the blade with respect to the shank is avoided.

To remove the blade from the shank the inner end portion of the bladesimply is flexed laterally to disengage the portion thereof at the innerend of the slot I8 rom behind the shoulder l5, wheree upon the blade isfree to be shifted outwardly along and to be disengaged from the shank.

Extending along the back marginal 'portion and laterally l'outward fromone or both sides 'of the blade B is a blade -stiflening and reinforcingrib or ribs IB as desired. In either case it is a feature of theinvention that when the blade is mounted on the `shank C its dispositionrelative to said shank is such that when the shank and the blade are intheir closed positions, as shown in Figures l, 2 and 6, at lea'st theouter end portion or portions of the rib or ribsv I9 is or are disposedoutwardly 'with respect to the open edge of the handle A yfor lingernail engagement to facilitate initial opening swinging movement of theblade and shank from the handle A,

Preferably, but not necessarily, the handle side plates l0, l0 areprovided along their front edges 'with outwardly extending 'stiieningribs '20, while optionally the handle A may or may not be pro- 4 videdat its rear end with a clevis 2| by means' of which a chain may beattached to the knife if desired.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with theaccompanying drawing it is believed that the construction and operationof the present knife will be clearly understood and its advantagesappreciated. It is desired to point out, however, that while only asimple, specilic structural form of the knife has been illustrated anddescribed, the same is readily capable of specically differentstructural forms within the spirit and scope of the invention as delinedin the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A. pocket knife comprising a handle, a shank pivoted at one end tosaid handle for swinging movements between open and closed positionsrelative thereto, said shank at one face thereof and near its pivotedend being recessed and thereby being provided with an inwardlyfacingshoulder at the outer end of said recess, said shank outwardly ofsaid recess being or substantially uniform thickness from face to faceand the upper and lower edges of said shank outwardly of said shoulderbeing substantially parallel, 'said edges having therein channels whichextend longitudinally of said shank and which are alined with the faceof said recess, said channels opening through the outer end of saidshank and having their inner ends terminating outwardly of saidshoulder, a thin, laterally iexible, normally flat blade having 'thereina longitudinally extending slot the outer end portion of which is of awidth approximately equal to the distance between the bottoms of thechannels in said shank, said bladeslot being otherwise of approximatelythe same size and shape as said shank outwardly of said shoulder,whereby it is engageable and interlockable with said shank by slidingthe same rearwardly relative to said shank under lateral ilexure toengage portions thereof at both sides of the slot therein with thegrooves of said shank and to engage the portion thereof at the rear endofthe slot therein behind said shoulder.

`2. A pocket knife as set forth in claim 1 in which the recessed portionof the shank has a laterally rearwardly and outwardly inclined face tomaintain the end portion of the blade nearer the handle under lateral.flexure when said blade is interlocked with said shank, thereby toavoid any looseness between said blade and said shank.

THOMAS R. ARDEN.

vllteferences Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber Name Date 370,604 Willis Nov 12, 19t? 1,335,847 Mertens Apr. 6,1920 1,884,630 Driest Oct. 25, 1932 2,069,636 lWilson Feb. 2, 19372,292,729 Woodward nog, 11, 1942 2,530,236 Erickson Nov. 14, o

